Why Cloud 9 will work without Hai

It's hard to deny the fact that Hai was an integral part of
Cloud 9's success ever since their entrance into the LCS in 2013.
Many consider him to be one of the best minds in League of
Legends. He used strategy, rather than mechanics, to win
games. Though it did not work out, I consider one of his
greatest shot calling moments against Samsung Blue in game 2 during
Season 4 Worlds. While down in gold & kills with the
bottom inhibidor open, he attempted to sneaky around Samsung's
bottom lane in order to take down the inhibidor. I am
convinced that no one in Western LoL would have the presence of
mind in the moment of the game to make that sort of decision, but
if it had worked, it would've bought his team some valuable time to
potentially mount a come back against one of the best teams in the
world at the time. Through his decision making, Hai made the
team greater than the sum of their parts. It is important to
note that after Season 3, Meteos & Sneaky were considered the
star-players of Cloud 9. These two players coupled with Hai's
shot calling lead them to become a power house in the NA LoL scene.
Hai made them better than many perceived them to be - more
than the sum of their parts.

The Summer of 2015

Many critics believed Hai to be the problem within Cloud 9
because they believed that his shot calling was no longer enough.
He couldn't keep up with the best mid laners in North
America, and would find both himself and his team at a
disadvantage. In the summer of 2015, Hai was replaced with
Incarnati0n from Europe after he was unbanned. The lineup
consisted of Balls, Meteos, Incarnati0n, Sneaky, and LemonNation.
The team never seemed to be able to get it together even
though they had replaced their weakest player, according to many
people. However, by replacing Hai, they replaced what made
the team more than the sum of their parts. The issue with
this team is that there were still the weak links with no one to
bring them together. A few weeks before the end of the
season, Hai replaced Meteos in the jungle and lead them to make a
gauntlet run that lead them to worlds.

The off-season & Spring of 2016

Worlds proved that Hai could not be the permanent solution to
Cloud 9. He was plagued with wrist injuries and unfortunately
had a collapsed lung before MSI in 2014. The team brought on
two players, Rush & Bunny Fufuu. These two additions
would see Hai transition to support & LemonNation to a coaching
role. The team had seemingly upgraded their roster where they
needed to, however, they still couldn't find wins when Hai sat out.
For one reason or another, the team couldn't plan &
execute a macro game strategy without Hai being in the game.
The team finished at a respectable 3rd place in the regular
season, but unfortunately lost to a revitalized Team SoloMid in the
Quarterfinals of the playoffs. Overall, a disappointing
finish for Cloud 9.

Going in to Summer 2016

Hai has officially been moved to the Challenger team Cloud 9 is
forming. This isn't to say he is done playing under the C9
brand, but it seems he has one foot out the door on the LCS team.
The team has picked up Impact to replace Balls & is now
starting Meteos over Rush, with Bunny Fufuu to support.
Additionally, they have brought back Bubbadub & picked up
Reapered & Kubz as coaches. I believe that this team will
succeed next split because this team has no weak spots on their
roster. I believe they will struggle at first, as Meteos
becomes re-acclimated to LAN play, but I believe by playoffs, given
the Bo3 format, Cloud 9 will be able to have a successful season
& find themselves back to worlds. Reapered is a world
renowned player known for his innovation, and Kubz will be able to
help the team with their Macro strategy. This team does not
need a leader like Hai to be more than the sum of their parts, and
I believe that this iteration of Cloud 9 without Hai will be able
to succeed and ultimately win NA.